1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to laundry baskets, and more particularly to a laundry basket with a hip hugging feature.
2. Description of Related Art
Laundry baskets are well known as aids for doing laundry, and particularly for carrying and transporting either dirty laundry items or already laundered items. A typical laundry basket is somewhat rectangular and has a contiguous side wall with two elongate walls and two shorter end walls. The basket also has a bottom panel coupled to the contiguous side wall, an open top, and a basket interior. Laundry baskets are also known to have shapes that are not rectangular, such as round or cylindrical laundry baskets.
A relatively recent improvement in laundry baskets is to provide the basket in a kidney-shape, wherein one of the elongate sides is slightly concavely curved inward toward the basket interior and the opposite elongate side is outwardly or convexly curved away from the basket interior. U.S. Design Pat. No. D416,116 (issued to Sofy) discloses an example of a laundry basket that is a hybrid of a non-rectangular basket shape and one that has an inwardly curved side.
The inwardly curved side of such a laundry basket is typically used as an ergonomic tool to assist a user in carrying the basket, especially when it is loaded with laundry items. A user can rest the inwardly curved side of the basket against their hip, so that the basket rests on their pelvic bone or against their skin above the pelvic bone. The user can use their arm to grasp the opposite side of the basket to support and hold the basket with only one hand. Thus, the user has one hand free to open and close doors or to perform other needed tasks while carrying a load of laundry.
One problem with this type of laundry basket is that the inwardly curved edge of the basket can dig into a user's hip which can cause discomfort. Another problem is that the basket can slip from their hip relatively easily while it is being carried. Laundry baskets are typically made from a relatively smooth, shiny, and, thus, relatively slippery plastic material. Further, a typical laundry basket has an outwardly rolled rim at the top end of the contiguous side wall. The exposed edge of the rolled rim typically is the portion of the basket that bears against the user's side, digging into the flesh of the user causing the discomfort.